Answer: These are just some of the items listed as a threat
to Israel and banned “for security reasons” from entrance into Gaza. The fact
that these kind of things are necessary for any meaningful life is simply
considered by Israel as a bonus.

When I shared this list with a friend, he said, “You can’t
be serious.” Whether I am serious or not
is of little consequence, but believe it, Israel is serious.

When concerned people of conscience tried to bring such
items as these into Gaza by boat, the flagship of the flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, was boarded by Israeli
commandos in international waters who stormed the ship firing live ammunition, killing
nine unarmed peace activist. Netanyahu explained, “Our soldiers had to defend
themselves.”

Jeremy Hammond quotes Sargent S., who shot six of the nine, “They
were without doubt terrorists. I could see the murderous rage in their eyes.”

When asked why the Obama administration hadn’t condemned Israel
for killing nine peace activist, including an American citizen, White House
spokesman Robert Gibbs replied, “Nothing can bring them back now.” Eric Cantor,
a leading Republican in the House of
Representatives:

Called on the Obama administration
“to veto any biased UN resolutions reining in Israel’s right to defend itself.”
He didn’t bother to explain how an attack on an unarmed ship on a humanitarian
mission in international waters that resulted in the killing of nine civilians
could possibly constitute an act of self-defense.”[1]

Thomas Friedman summed it up by explaining that the victims
wanted to die and had practically begged the commandos to execute them as part
of a plot to make Israel “look bad.”[2] No one bothered to ask him
for the source of his information.

Besides that, who could blame Israel? Those terrorists were
armed with coloring books and crayons.

Thomas Are

December 17, 2016

[1]
Cited in Jeremy Hammond, Obstacle to
Peace, US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, (Worldview
Publications, 2016) p.214.

[2]
Jeremy Hammond, Obstacle to Peace, US Role
in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, (Worldview Publications, 2016) p.221.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Funny thing about the human brain; it has a tendency to put
out of mind those things that make us uncomfortable. But, to do so is a little
like saying that “your end of the boat is sinking.” Who wants to remember such
things as our slaughter of native Americans, slavery or our invasion of Iraq. But, as it has been said, those who dismiss
the past are prone to repeat it. And sooner or later, our conscience begins to
disturb our peace.

The “sins” of the past are done and there is no way to un-ring
that bell. However, our sin against Gaza is ongoing and we must not put it out
of mind.

Gaza – that little strip of land in which almost two million
people try desperately to scratch out a living. Gaza is completely surrounded
and totally controlled by Israel which is dedicated to never allowing its
situation to improve. Last year, the United Nations reported that Gaza “could
be uninhabitable by 2020.”

Ninety-five percent of its water is
unsafe to drink. Repeated bombing of its sewage treatment plants causes rampant
water-borne diseases and bombing power plants leaves Gaza unable to produce
electricity. Seventy-two percent of Gazan households suffer from food
insecurity. All imports are controlled by Israel. The Israeli Defense Ministry has
established mathematical formulas for how many calories each man, woman and
child will be permitted to consume to keep them just at the level of survival,
saying, “The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die”. Gaza has
endured three major military invasions leaving nearly 90,000 people displaced
and living in rubble. Gaza is closed in by barrier walls manned with automated
gun towers. Overhead warplanes constantly shatter the night with the deafening
breaking of the sound barrier and the day by the constant buzzing of military
drones.[1]

If Israel were treated in any way like Israel treats the
people of Gaza, its leaders would be screaming to high heaven. But, Israel is
safe. Few governments, including its victims, are so calloused and cold hearted
as its Ashkenazi leadership to commit
such crimes against its fellow human beings. Only by convincing yourself that
you are “God’s chosen,” and interpret that chosenness as being for privilege
and not for responsibility, by implying that all others are less deserving,
less worthy and less human can you trick the mind into believing that what you
are doing to other people is civilized.

Sooner or later, even the mind of Israel will run out of
tricks and when it does, remembering Gaza, will destroy its hope for
peace.

Thomas L. Are

I preached for forty three years in the Presbyterian Church before retiring. If anyone would ever refer to me as a Liberation Theologian, I would be pleased. I started blogging several years ago to express my political and religious concern for justice, especially justice for the Palestinians.